Civil Procedure Code (CPC) Revision: Simplified Procedural Coordination

The Swiss Civil Procedure Code (CPC) contains various instruments for the coordination of proceedings. For example, art. 90 CPC provides for the possibility to combine actions. This allows a claimant to combine several claims against the defendant in the same proceedings, provided that certain requirements are met. The CPC also provides another instrument designed to simplify litigation proceedings: the counterclaim. If a party is sued, it can, in certain circumstances, choose not to limit itself to contesting the claimant's claim, but counterclaim and assert its own claims against the claimant in the same proceedings.

The instruments for coordinating proceedings, including the above-mentioned combination of claims and counterclaims, are to be optimised when the revised CPC comes into force on 1 January 2025 in order to further enable a joint and coordinated assessment when several matters are in dispute.